Monthly Archives: May 2012

The last of the opulent Federal-style brick mansions to be built on Chestnut Street in Salem is the Devereux-Hoffman-Simpson House at 26 Chestnut Street. Built in 1826-1827, the house‘s first resident was Humphrey Devereux. From 1842 to 1878, it was home to Charles Hoffman, a merchant and noted horticulturalist. Hoffman was engaged in trade with the West Coast of Africa. According to Charles S. Osgood and H.M. Batchelder, in their Historical Sketch of Salem, 1626-1879 (1879),

After 1848, the trade was largely in the hands of Robert Brookbouse, Edward D. Kimball, and Charles Hoffman. The last arrival at Salem from the West Coast of Africa was the brig “Ann Elizabeth,” from Sierra Leone, which was entered by Charles Hoffman, in July, 1873. Salem merchants are still engaged in this trade [in 1879], but their vessels do not enter the harbor of Salem.

The Academy of Music, in Northampton, is a theater built in 1891 and designed by William C. Brockelsby of Hartford, CT. The theater was built in 1891 by philanthropist Edward H.R. Lyman, who gave it to to the City of Northampton the following year. It was the first municipally-owned theater in the nation and continues as a venue for live performances and film screenings.

The Printing Office at Old Sturbridge Village was built around 1780 in Worcester, where it was located next to the County Court House. It was owned for a time by printer Isaiah Thomas, who moved his business from Boston to Worcester during the Revolutionary War (although he probably did not do his printing in the building). The Printing Office was relocated to Old Sturbridge Village in 1951.